


Legacy

by sarahgayle1214



Series: Poetics [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Free Verse, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-07-05 13:17:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15864393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgayle1214/pseuds/sarahgayle1214
Summary: For Libby





	Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> For Libby

We come from a long line of strong women,   
A history which you now claim as your own.  
Our foremothers were images in black and white,  
A Cherokee woman who escaped the Trail of Tears to love a settler,  
A child carried across the ocean to Ellis Island.   
Two farmhouse sisters; One who traveled the world,  
The other a riveter in the Second World War,   
Businesswomen in the era of the ERA,  
Fighting for a better future.  
A lesbian soldier - but don’t ask and don’t tell.  
A rocket scientist mourning in the wake of Challenger,  
And a scrapyard owner waiting for her mechanic to come home from the army.  
Wife, mother, aunt, sister, daughter -  
Woman.  
This is your pedigree.  
Their stories are written in our genes,  
Tales of love and loss and life etched in blush pink.  
And now on this day of your birth, you join a narrative whose latest chapters are still being written.

 

Your mother is seven years my senior,  
A teen mother of two and college graduate.  
The path of her life is still unset,  
As is mine.  
I am seventeen years your senior,  
So many potential lives set before me;  
Writer, lawyer, singer, engineer - who knows?  
But you,  
You have so much potential,  
Infinite paths ahead and the world at your feet.  
What will you do?  
What will the world be like for you?  
I do not know.  
But this I do know, whatever I do,  
I hope to make you proud.  
I hope to inspire and guide you  
Along the paths of our sisterhood like those  
Who have tread before me.  
And know this,< br /> You are the blood of my blood.  
You will always be safe and loved in my arms.  
No matter what you do or where you go,  
You are mine and I love you.

 

I cannot wait to meet you.  
I cannot wait to see what you will add to our story.   
I will see you soon, my dear niece.


End file.
